09032019-JTR-01.qxd 3/9/2019 1:40 AM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar TRIBUNE UNION MINISTER SAMPLA FLAGS OFF TRAIN PAGE 2 Union Minister Vijay Sampla flags off Swaraj Express train at Phagwara Railway Station. FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY MAX 24°C | MIN 10°C | YESTERDAY MAX 23°C | MIN 11°C SUNSET SATURDAY 6:31 PM Tribune News Service INBRIEF MINISTERIAL STAFF CONTINUE STRIKE Phagwara: Three lakh government employees across the state continued their indefinite strike in protest against the failure of the state government to accede to their demands. The ministerial and other staff, under the aegis of the Punjab State Ministerial Services Union have joined the strike. DC Offices Employees Union district vice-president Purshotam Lal said: “The strike will continue as talks with the state Finance Department have failed without any conclusion on Thursday. He said the threemember Cabinet subcommittee formed by the government to look after their matter had initially agreed to the demands, but later backtracked. OC WHAT’S ON JALANDHAR ANNUAL EVENING: Krishna Leela, annual cultural evening, for preprimary kids; Mayor World School; 6:30 pm Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 8 With the Lok Sabha poll around the corner and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) yet not able to form an alliance with either the Congress or the SAD (Taksali), the party which had won four parliamentary seats in 2014 in the state is now seeing a major downfall. The downfall is more prominent in Doaba where AAP had won on two of the 23 seats in the 2017 Assembly poll — in Bholath and Garhshankar. After Brig Raj Kumar (retd), who had unsuccessfully contested for the AAP from Balachaur, got inducted by the Akalis yesterday, the AAP is currently left with only five active candidates of the total 23 it had chosen from Doaba in the 2017 Assembly poll. SUNRISE SUNDAY 6:45 AM SATURDAY | 9 MARCH 2019 | JALANDHAR Over 32K women abandoned by NRI husbands in state, says welfare society FIRs, passport impoundment ‘stuck’ in red tape HUNDREDS TURN UP FOR PROTEST Hundreds of women abandoned by their NRI husbands gathered at the Regional Passport Office under the umbrella organisation ‘Ab Nahi - Social Welfare Society’ to oppose the lack of action against their NRI husbands by the state government. Representing them were women ranging from 22 to 63 years of age. Tribune News Service Police officials address the media in Jalandhar on Friday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: MALKIAT SINGH The SSP said the duo were supposed to deliver two bags at Lucky Dhaba here but the person to whom the bags were to be delivered could not be contacted on a mobile phone. The SSP said a case under Sections 15 and 25 of the NDPS Act had been registered against them at the Goraya police station. He said the accused were being interrogated about their connections in the region. Mahal further revealed that another bus of J&K state transport (bearing registration No. JK-02-Y0623) was intercepted and Rs 7, 53,800 in cash was seized from the possession of Mohammad Maqbool of Chinar Bagh and Talwir Yousaf of Alochi Bagh in Srinagar. The SSP said today, Bashir Ahmed, a resident of Lal Chowk, Srinagar, handed over Rs 7,53,800 in cash to them to deliver the same to his son Kanish at Delhi. He said the process of handing over of the recovered currency to the Income Tax Department had been initiated. PAGE 4 To be seen in &TV’s show Shaadi Ke Siyape; says most of the reality shows lose their charm after the first season Aparna Banerji Jalandhar, March 8 Aman (24) was abandoned by her NRI husband in 2016. Years after her wedding and abandonment, her dowry money and jewellery still lie with her in-laws, who sent her back to her parents’ home in February 2017, months after her wedding on October 2016 with an Italy-based man, a resident of Tanda. An FIR registered against her husband in Kapurthala is yet to be acted against. Pritam Kaur (63) has been waiting for justice for the past 40 years. Her NRI husband, a Toronto resident, left her to get married to her sister-inlaw only to abandon his second wife and is now married for the third time. Both Kaur’s mother and father-inlaw staunchly supported her. But he died in the course of fighting her case in the court – against his own son. Hundreds of women abandoned by their NRI husbands gathered at the Regional Passport Office under the umbrella organisation ‘Ab Nahi - Social Welfare Society’ to oppose the lack of action against their husbands by the state government. Representing them were women ranging from 22 to 63 years of age. While there are at least 32,000 cases of abandonment of women across the state, as claimed by the organisation, a majority of the women are yet to get due justice. The activists say while the problem was almost as endemic as cancer, the police and passport offices neither have database nor have any stats being maintained regarding such offenders. Activists said while the RPO of Chandigarh had begun the process of impounding passports of NRI husbands and offenders, the Jalandhar pass- port office had been delaying the process despite repeated complaints. Satwinder Kaur, the president of the organisation, said: “The police are slow in lodging FIRs and in a majority of the cases, victims are further harassed and pressed for documentation. While 15 to 20 cases have been lodged within this year alone, determining the total number of FIRs is an uphill task. The passport of all these 32,000 men need to be impounded. Women have spent 20 to 40 years waiting for their husbands. We are a poor group. We don’t have resources or financial support. In so many cases, women face difficulty in making both ends meet and on top of it, when they lodge FIRs or demand to impound passports, various sort of frivolous documentation is sought to delay or hold up the process.” Speaking on the lack of action by the Jalnadhar passport office, she says, “We had held a press conference at the Gurdwara Rakabganj in Chandigarh in May 2018 along with the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee after which notices had been sent to gurdwaras across the world regarding Sikh youths who had abandoned their wives after Anand Karaj. Pressure was put on the Ministry of External Affairs and Women and Child Development to intervene with countries and procure documentation of the offenders. Afterwards, the RPOs of Chandigarh and Amritsar sped up action against offenders and began impounding passports but Jalandhar is yet to respond. Not a single passport has been impounded and every time we make a complaint, the matter is further delayed. We want the process to begin here too.” While officials at the Passport office assured them action would be taken against the offenders, the activists have threatened to hold a dharna outside the office if their demand was not addressed soon. Works worth ~38 cr begin under Smart City project Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 8 In a major step aimed at giving impetus to the overall development of the city, Lok Sabha MP Chaudhary Santokh Singh along with MLAs and officers of the district administration inaugurated the work of junction improvement of 11 chowks and installation of solar panels on several government buildings in the city at a cost of Rs 38.15 crore. The junction improvement work would be executed at a cost of Rs 20.32 crore during which a facelift would be given to 11 chowks of the city — Dr BR Ambedkar Chowk, Guru Amardass Chowk, Kapurthala Chowk, Bhagwan Valmiki Chowk (Jyoti Chowk), Guru Ravidass Chowk, Doaba Chowk, PNB Chowk and Kapurthala road intersection, BMC Chowk, HMV Chowk and Model Town Intersection. Besides, the works of improvement in lane geometry, lane marking, wider pedestrian pathways, table top crossings and tactile tiles, SS railings and ramps, mastic asphalt for pavement strengthening, traffic signals cantilever types, automated traffic management system, CCTV cameras, surveillance and support traffic violation, traffic-calming measures, development of landscape area, provision of bus stops, foot over bridges with escalators wherever practicable and others would be executed. The MP said the motive was to ensure a smooth and hassle-free movement of traffic on the one hand and give a serene look to the chowks on the other. It was learnt that the work on installing solar rooftop panels on several government buildings, covering a total area of 74,193 sq m, has also been started today. They said as per this work, solar rooftop panels would be installed on over 16 buildings at a cost of Rs 17.83 crore. These include JDA office, Commissioner of Police office, District Administrative Complex, Government Education College, Meritorious School, Municipal Corporation Jalandhar, Registrar Office I and II, Government Girls School, Sessions Court, Sports college, SSP (Rural) Office, Agriculture office, Government High School, Basti Bawa Khel, Government Senior Secondary Schools Santokhpura and Mithapur, Government Girls Senior Secondary School Nehru Garden and PAP Complex. Chaudhary Santokh Singh, accompanied by MLAs Pargat Singh, Rajinder Beri, Sushil Kumar Rinku and Avtar Singh Bawa Henry, Municipal Corporation Mayor Jagdish Raj Raja, Commissoner of Police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma and Chief Executive Officer Smart City Jitendra Jorwal, inaugurated the project at the local Guru Amar Dass Chowk. AAP left with 5 active candidates on 23 Doaba seats Deepkamal Kaur REJECTIONS TEACH YOU A LOT, SAYS ACTRESS SHEEN DASS There are family ties, discords, village life, connecting with the roots and a wedding in Guddiyan Patole. 4 held with poppy husk, ~7.5 lakh on J&K buses Jalandhar, March 8 The rural police on Friday arrested two persons and seized 90 kg of poppy husk from a Jammu and Kashmir state transport bus on GT Road in Goraya. The suspects have been identified as bus driver Tariq Ahmed of Nisat Gupt Ganga and his associate Ghulam Mohideen of Brain in Srinagar. While addressing a press meet, Jalandhar (rural) SSP Navjot Singh Mahal said the SHO and a police party was conducting a checking near Birju Barfi Wala on GT road in Goraya town and intercepted a J&K state transport bus (bearing registration No. JK-01-Y-0565) and recovered 90 kg of poppy husk and the cash from Tariq and Ghulam. He said the bus was heading towards Delhi from Srinagar without any passenger and the suspects were used to carry parcels and deliver the same to people on their way. For the delivery of each parcel, they used to get Rs 1,500. PAGE 3 TOO MUCH TO HANDLE, STORY GETS JUMBLED UP FACT FILE ■ AAP has five active candidates on 23 seats of Doaba ■ The party has not been able to retain any of three candidates in Nawanshahr ■ In Kapurthala, it has just one of four candidates ■ In Jalandhar, it has two of nine candidates ■ In Hoshiarpur, it has one MLA and one active candidate Interestingly, Brig Raj Kumar (retd) is the fourth AAP candidate of the last Assembly poll from Doaba to have joined the SAD. Prior to him, HS Walia, Hans Raj Rana and Amarjit Thind, who have been AAP candidates from Jalandhar Cantonment, Adampur and Shahkot, respectively, have already joined SAD in the last two years. Thind had left the party ahead of the Shahkot bypoll in May 2018 and the party had to pick a new candidate, Rattan Singh, who could garner just 1,900 votes, showing a dismal fall from its tally of 41,010 votes in 2017. The party got a major blow when Bholath MLA Sukhpal Khaira left the party and floated his own Punjab Ekta Party. He was lately also joined by Nakodar candidate Sarwan S Hayre. Since the elections, Phillaur AAP candidate Saroop S Kadiana had joined the Lok Insaaf Party (LIP), which already had its can- didate in Phagwara too. The LIP , which was in alliance with the AAP earlier, is now a part of the Sukhpal Khaira-led Punjab Democratic Alliance. AAP 2017 candidates, including Charanjit Channi from Nawanshahr, Paramjit Sachdeva from Hoshiarpur, Chandan Grewal from Kartarpur, Gulshan Sharma from Jalandhar North and Harjot Kaur from Banga had already left politics. In all, the AAP now has only five active candidates on 23 seats. They are Garhshankar MLA Jai Kishan Rori, Sham Churasi candidate Dr Ravjot Singh, who is now also the Hoshiarpur LS seat candidate, Sajjan Singh Cheema from Sultanpur Lodhi, Dr Sanjeev Sharma from Jalandhar Central and Darshan Lal Bhagat from Jalandhar West. c m y b Activists of the ‘Ab Nahi - Social Welfare Society’ take out a protest march outside the regional passport office in Jalandhar on International Women’s Day on Friday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: MALKIAT SINGH BSP cadres upset over selection of candidates Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 8 With two of the three candidates finalised by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for the forthcoming Lok Sabha poll being brought from outside, the cadres of the party known for its Dalit strength in the region have been quite upset with the decision. An FB user from the party, Inderjitpal Badhan, has lambasted the leaders saying: “Party perhaps does not need hardworking workers. It also does not recognise their ability.” Rashpal Singh Bhardwaj, another party worker, said: “Mayawati did the wrong decision which will lead us down the hill.” Lakhwinder Lakhi, another worker, writes: “The party chief is kept away from the ground realities.” The dissent on the selection of international polo player Vikram Singh Sodhi (64) from Anandpur Sahib seat is even more. “No one knows him. He is just a fresh entrant. He knows nothing about Dalit ideology on which the party is based. He does not suit the party’s image,” said a senior party leader. Though an official PARTY WORKERS VENT IRE ON SOCIAL MEDIA Though party workers have not openly revolted against the BSP decision as per which two of the three candidates finalised by the party for the Lok Sabha poll being brought from outside, they have been venting out their ire on social media platforms. announcement regarding the same is awaited, the party has finalised the names of former journalist Balwinder Kumar (40) for the Jalandhar seat, retired IAS officer Khushi Ram (68) from Hoshiarpur and Sodhi was one among the four candidates announced by the Bargari Morcha last month. Having served in English daily earlier, Balwinder had contested the Kartarpur Assembly seat in 2017, though he lost his security deposit. Sukhwinder Kotli had contested for the BSP from Jalandhar LS seat last time and polled 46,914 votes. The votes of the party, which was 93,000 in 2009, had fallen in 2014 with AAP denting its votebank. Having served as the DC in Ropar, Mansa and Tarn Taran, Khushi Ram (68) retired from the civil services in 2011 and has been a recipient of President Award. Later, he worked as an executive director of the NRI Sabha in Jalandhar. A resident of Mohali, he became founder president of the Bahujan Mukti Party, which he left in October 2018 to join the BSP . “I am proud that the party has chosen me to contest from the historical seat where from Yashwant Bhimrao Ambedkar was a candidate in 1962, Kanshi Ram ji was MP in 1986 and Mayawati contested in 1989,” he said after having boarded the train from Lucknow this evening. Sodhi, it is learnt, is from the families of sixth Sikh master Guru Hargobind’s son Suryamal. He too is a President medal awardee for being international polo player. A commerce graduate, he runs an import-export business of sports goods at Anandpur Sahib. Having been a supporter of the Bargari Morcha, he also represents the Anandpur Sahib Charitable Foundation that works on social issues, besides raising check dams in the area. City to have TB forum Jalandhar, March 8 Aiming at eradicating tuberculosis (TB) from society by engaging community and ensuring regular monitoring of TB patients, a district-level TB forum will be constituted soon which will be headed by Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma. Presiding over a meeting yesterday to discuss the report of the state internal evaluation, which was held from March 5 to 7 in the district, the Deputy Commissioner accompanied by Civil Surgeon Rajesh Kumar Bagga, said the district forum would have members from the cross section of society, including officials from health, women and child development departments, anganwari and ASHA workers, NGO members and others. Sharma said the meeting of the forum would be held after six months to discuss issues relating to the TB programme, including the progress report, medicines, testing facilities, conducting of sensitisation activities and others. The Deputy Commissioner said the Panchayati Raj institutions would be engaged for community mobilisation and awareness activities in the district. District TB Officer Rajiv Sharma and members of the evaluation committee were also present. — TNS

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